Mitarbeiter sonstige

The EU and the Sustainable Development Goals: three options for a post-2030 framework

Sumner, Andy / Stephan Klingebiel
Mitarbeiter sonstige (2024)

in: Christine Hackenesch / Niels Keijzer / Svea Koch (eds.), The European Union’s global role in a changing world: challenges and opportunities for the new leadership, Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), 76-78

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23661/idp11.2024.17
Open access

What has been the contribution of the European Union (EU) to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around the world? An external evaluation report published by the EU Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) in March 2024 addressed this question, focusing on the period from 2016 to 2021 and covering 146 countries. The report found evidence that the EU has played a pivotal role in globally championing the SDGs at a high level (European Commission, 2024).  However, the EU’s influence was less pronounced at the national level, where the impact of EU delegations on local political landscapes was not as significant. The EU has not made the SDGs a flagship of engagement strategies with the Global South (as the Global Gateway is). If the EU wants to promote the SDGs to 2030 and potentially beyond, this will need attention. Moreover, this may be a pressing matter. A review of 140+ national development plans in the Global South that covers the period 2016-2023 (Munro, 2023) found that, although the SDGs’ framing was clear in low-income countries, the SDGs was much less evident in middle-income countries which account for most of the countries and population of the Global South.